


Wait A While

by snowzone5



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mileven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 11:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19851970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowzone5/pseuds/snowzone5
Summary: AU. Outgoing and boisterous Jane Hopper likes Mike Wheeler. She makes it obvious every time they are in the same room, and makes it known to everybody in school. Unfortunately Mike is pretty sure he's in love with her twin sister El, but she won't talk to him.





	1. Chapter 1

"Of course you've heard," Dustin said dramatically as they were putting their bikes in the rack outside of the school.

"Heard what," Mike said.

"Uh, for those whose house is located under a rock: The Hopper Twins. Yes I capitalized that." Dustin said, not believing his friends hadn't actually heard.

"So what about them," Lucas said.

"Are you telling me, me that Max Mayfield whose been clinging to you like a dryer sheet for the last two weeks, didn't tell you?" Dustin sounded annoyed.

"No, Dustin, we have not heard whatever it is you are about to say the fabulous Hopper twins.

"Well first off, Lucas, they are Max's best friends... but you knew that," Dustin said trying to be sarcastic.

"And second," Dustin made a dramatic flourish towards the school entrance, "The Hopper Twins, note the caps, and identical I might add, will be attending Hawkins, middle school. And if you roll an Ability check with no modifiers, you will see there's a good chance they will be in our classes."

"Who cares?" Mike said, "Two more girls who won't talk to us. The only way it would be less interesting is if they were triplets, than it would be three girls who won't talk to us."

"They are triplets?" Dustin said, his mouth hanging open.

"No, Dustin... well I don't know, I'm just saying it would be even less interesting to me if they are triplets. I don't understand why you go on about any new girls that start here." Mike said.

"Can you name any girl-" Dustin immediately held out his hands with splayed fingers to start ticking off girls names.

" _And_ who talk to us now." Mike continued. Dustin stopped and put his hands down.

"That's a defeatist attitude, Mike."

"Really?" Mike snorted. "No amount of positive attitude is going to make twins, triplets or any other girls going to this school talk to us. Get used to it. I did."

"Well, shit, sorry I brought it up."

Mike shook his head and left them standing at the bike rack.

Mike hated the first day of school with a passion. It was usually the day Troy sought him out, and made his presence known with a punch to his head or stomach. It would be the day he'd find out just how bad gym class was going to be for the year. The only redeeming part of the day would be when Mr. Clarke told them the about the various experiments they'd be doing in science class. Mike never showed as much enthusiasm as Dustin did, but he was secretly thrilled to know. Mr. Clarke was hands down his favourite teacher.

Maybe he was complaining a little too much, he still got to go with his best friends.

Something was missing in his life, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Well, he could, but he didn't want to admit it to himself.

At lunch, the Party, sat at their table. At least some things never change. Well one thing, did, the girl Max sat beside Lucas. She'd been hanging around a lot, more interested in Lucas than the rest of the guys. Mike didn't particularly like her, but he didn't know her, and didn't have much inclination to do so.

Mike wasn't really paying attention to much of anything when someone sat down across the bench from him and beside Dustin. A girl, a pretty one at that with curly hair around her ears, and said to Dustin, "hi cutie," then turned to Mike, "you're Mike Wheeler." He nodded uninterested.

She held out her hand for him to shake, he automatically held out his hand to shake hers, "and I'm Jane hopper," she said.

Mike was a little bewildered, girls weren't generally friendly towards him, so he wasn't quite sure how to react.

He hadn't quite let go of Jane's hand, when he looked at the other end of the bench. A girl with very buzzed hair and large, honest, totally devastating eyes was looking at him. She gave him a small nervous smile. Suddenly she stopped smiling, looked a little scared and looked quickly down at her book. Except for her hair she was a dead ringer for Jane.

"Oh, that's my twin sister, El"

Mike didn't really need to know anymore, he had fallen hopelessly and utterly in love with El Hopper at first sight.


	2. Rumours

Mike was in a sullen mood the rest of the day. He couldn't stop thinking about El Hopper. The way she looked at him made him feel... well he didn't exactly know how it made him feel. Funny, weird, sad, he couldn't put his finger on it. He didn't even know if it was a good feeling or a bad one.

Part of how he felt was Jane Hopper's very forward greeting. It was almost like she had specifically sought him out at the table and made her introductions. This was definitely new terrain for Mike. Uncharted. Mike could count on one hand the number of minutes he'd actually spent talking to a girl that he wasn't related to.

Jane and El were always together, although never in close proximity. Still, Mike had only been able to talk to El once, alone, long enough to say "hi."

El's response was simple, "go away."

She might as well have punched him in the gut. All the air was taken out of him in a second. The feeling he had was worse than anything Troy could have inflicted on him. Mike wasn't stupid, he knew it was because Jane had taken matters into her own hands when it came to introducing herself on meeting new people. She had introduced El as if saying, "oh by the way, that's a soggy towel." Mike was a little angry at that. Clearly, El was shy, had no friends and by the looks of it buried herself in whatever she was reading when she didn't need to respond to a direct question in class. Did Jane not see that? Maybe they didn't get along as twins. Mike didn't know anything about twins. He'd always heard that twins were _in tune_ with each other. Maybe they weren't that close. Jane hadn't been openly hostile to El. He had no idea what their personal home lives were like.

Mike was first out at the bike rack. To his surprise, El was there too, with Jane nowhere in site.

"I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you." Mike said, looking down and struggling to get his bike out of the rack.

"You didn't do anything wrong." El looked at him. There was such a sad expression in her eyes, Mike thought he would start crying on the spot.

"Just don't talk to me, ok?"

"But…"

El's eyes hardened. "I'm sorry, did I stutter?"

"Sorry," Mike looked down again. El looked like she was about to cry herself, she quickly got on her bike and peddled away.

The rest of the Party... and Max trickled towards the bike rack. "Congratulations." Max said to Mike with a smirk on her face. Dustin and Lucas looked at her.

"Did I win the lottery?" Mike said, trying to sound as sarcastic as possible. He didn't have Dustin's flare for it, so it came out sounding lame.

"The girlfriend lottery, I think you're the first one of these two losers to get one." Lucas looked down and Dustin looked offended.

Mike gave a short laugh, "Well it's not you," he gave a quick glance to Lucas, "you're already spoken for." Lucas was suddenly very interested in watching the grass grow. Max gave Lucas a smile.

"And you're not my type anyway. Uh, wait... shit, you're not talking about Jane Hopper are you."

"The one and the same, rumour has it you asked her out sometime after lunch."

"I didn't. I have no intention to either."

"No intention to what, handsome?" Jane came up to them at the bike rack smiling... looked to Dustin, "hello again cutie." She stood very close to Mike.

"Of asking you out." Mike said bluntly. He didn't look at her. She only reminded him of El.

"Oh you will... everybody I've talked to says so." Jane said smiling confidently.

"Well, all my real friends are standing right here. So everybody _you_ talked to knows shit." Mike got on his bike and took off.

Dustin saw Jane's face fall. He felt sorry for her. "Ignore Mike, he's like this the first day of school every year."

"It's ok if I hang out with you guys isn't it? My sister and I don't know anybody else in the school. I'm usually the social butterfly breaking the ice and getting to know people. El is...a lot quieter than I am. She's sweet but too shy. She doesn't make friends very easily."

"Just do what I do," Max said. I hang out with them anyway. Mike usually ignores me. I can see you're not going to take no for an answer."

"You got that right," Jane said. She had a very determined look on her face.

XXXXX

Mike sat on his bed. History has repeated itself, Mike thought. A new year of school has started. The first day was shit. He wasn't really all that surprised. Although the first day this year had a bit of a different twist to it. Mike was impressed the universe was finding new ways to screw up his life.

What was he going to do about Jane? Sure she was forward and not the least bit shy of saying what she thought, he didn't know if she actually liked him, or was just playing with him. If Mike was honest with himself he would admit he didn't _dislike_ Jane. He wasn't used to this. He had no experience with girls, so he didn't know how to take it.

And then there was El. His chest tightened a bit when he thought of her. She had smiled at him, her eyes had such an intensity that Mike found it difficult to breath. He didn't have a handle on that situation either. Mike really _really_ wanted to talk to her, get to know her. He knew she'd have a hard time avoiding him because she was always with Jane. It was going to be hard to find opportunities to talk to her. She didn't want to talk to him. She'd made that crystal clear. He had no idea why. Maybe she thought that Jane and him were already going out? Jane could have told her that whether it was true or not.

That bugged him a little too. Jane was taking liberties with any potential friendship that was there. They didn't have to be going out to be friends. Who knows maybe it would have developed further. Mike thought that was a non-event the second he'd laid eyes on El.

Mike was silent at dinner. Until Nancy opened her mouth. "So I hear you have a girlfriend?" Nancy was a sly one. "Someone said her name was Jane _Hopper_. I didn't know the Chief had a daughter."

"Yeah, I was the last to know, weird eh? Almost like someone spread a shit rumour around the school."

"Language." Ted said around a mouthful of chicken.

"So you don't have a girlfriend?" Mike's mom said.

"No."

"Is she pretty?" Nancy asked.

"You know Nance, it's not about whether or not a girl is pretty or not. Look at you."

"Michael!" Karen gave him a sour look.

Mike sighed, "Sorry, yes she's pretty, yes she's smart, yes she likes me. I think... I don't care."

"Why not," Nancy looked at her mom raising her eyebrows at her. Why is everyone saying you two are going out?"

"She told everyone one that. I didn't ask her. I won't be asking her out either."

"Again... why not?"

"She has a twin sister. El." Mike said looking down at his plate. His mom gave Nancy a knowing smile.

"Oh, I see."

"Can we talk about a different, maybe an equally uncomfortable topic, like which track and field team I'll be joining this year?"

"You're going to join a track and field team?" Karen Wheeler said, a lot of surprise in her voice.

"No, I'm not. Glad that topic is finished. How about a new one?"

"We get it Mike, it's the first day of school. You do this every year." Nancy said.

Mike was silent again. He should stop taking it out on his family, better to just not talk to them for the rest of the day. Mike finished his dinner and went back to his room. Usually they unwound from the first day of school by playing a few hours of D&D. He wasn't feeling it today. He'd let Lucas know and Lucas could let the rest of the Party know. Mike didn't feel like talking to anybody else today.

Except maybe El Hopper. And she was probably never going to talk to him again. A deep sadness overtook Mike.


	3. The Hawkins Middle AV Club

Mike had totally forgotten yesterday that one of the better parts of the school year was the AV club. Mr. Clarke had asked him to be the president again, and the Party had already discussed it amongst themselves. Mike as DM was a natural for AV president and they didn't have an issue with it.

One club days, he would get up earlier, much to his mom's surprise, and bike to school almost an hour earlier than the rest of the party.

This year, Mr. Clarke had actually given him his own key to the hamshack. The door was unlocked this morning though. Curious Mike opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him.

"What are you doing in here?" It was El, "it's AV club members only."

"Um, Uh, Mr. Clarke asked me to be president again this year," he held up his key, "I have an official key, so you can't tell me to go away."

El had a faint smile on her lips. Mike felt it hard to breath again. "Sorry about that, I was rude. I had a bad day yesterday."

"I _always_ have a bad day on the first day of school. I take it out on the wrong people. Never used to be that way, I don't know what's changed…. Why did you join the club? This usually isn't the type of club girls are into."

"I have an interest. But mostly... I knew my sister wouldn't join. Even if she's your girlfriend, you probably won't get her to join."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"You should tell her that." El's smile had gotten a little wider, her eyes were spectacular.

"I did, to her face. It didn't take. As far as I could tell." He shrugged.

"That's my sister... I love her dearly but she has the type A personality between the two of us. I just let her have the room when we're together. This..." she looked around the hamshack, "will be my little getaway."

Mike laughed, "that's what I use it for too. So um, you could be seeing me here a lot." He looked down.

"That's ok Mike. There can be a mini AV club with just two members." El laughed. Her laugh was like a symphonic masterpiece. Perfectly written and played by the most talented musicians in the world.

Mike felt his knees go weak, and sat down. He think he covered it up pretty well.

"So do you know how to use this?" She pointed to the equipment on the table.

"Yes. That's a ham radio I can't show you this morning, but I can give you homework."

El frowned.

"Why is it called a ham radio? And why homework? This is supposed to be fun."

"Everything you do with me will be fun." Mike was busy taking off his backpack so he didn't see the radiant smile that came from El.

"It refers to how badly users would tap out Morse code, 'hamfisted' they called them, eventually worked its way to 'ham radio operators' something like that."

"Don't worry, this homework is fun, if you're into it, and it will help you get the most out of the hobby by learning Morse code. You'll be slow at first but it doesn't take long to get up to speed." Mike went over to the shelf behind the desk and pulled out a book. "Here read this and practice. Who knows, you may end up better than the rest of us."

Mike showed El some of the other equipment in the shack, occasionally glancing at El to see if she was understanding ok. She was always looking at him intently and nodding to his questions, occasionally asking him to clarify.

Mike smiled internally, he was talking to El Hopper! And she seemed to be ok with it.

XXXXX

Mike didn't really remember walking to the home room... or the fact that El had followed him there. He knew she'd be sitting with her sister when they got there. Lucas and Max would sit together. Dustin would sit with him.

"How's my new boyfriend... and his cute friend?" Jane said behind him with brilliant smile. She gave Dustin a quick look. She really _was_ pretty.

Mike turned around, El was looking down at her notebook.

"If he's in this class, you should go ask him." Mike said he looked towards Dustin. He didn't really want to talk to Jane right now.

Her smile faltered a bit. Dustin caught it right away, "just continue ignoring him Jane. He's being a little asshole... like I said yesterday, happens every year." Dustin gave Mike a look that let him know he may have stepped out of bounds.

XXXXX

"Seriously, dude, what is your problem with Jane Hopper. Why do you hate her?"

"I don't know her, how can I hate her?"

"But you don't want to know her."

"Today. No, I don't. I also don't like how she seems to be leading you on, while claiming to be my girlfriend. That's messed up."

Dustin looked down, "yeah, I don't like it that much either."

"She's good friends with Max, so she's always going to be hanging around us. Her and El."

"There is a bright side," Dustin said genuinely smiling.

"Please... enlighten me."

"Can you remember the last time we discussed girl problems? You know, in the last hundred years or so?"

"I'm not sure that's a good thing or not. We are way out of their league. All three of them."

"All three?" Dustin said.

"Max, Jane... and El."

"Well, Lucas just needs to get off his ass and ask Max out. That problem is easily solved... and as for... wait a minute... out of your league, do you mean El? Are you saying…" Another large slow smile crept up on Dustin's face.

"I get it. You like El. You know they're twins right?"

"Yeah, can you tell El and Jane apart? I can. No contest." Mike gave Dustin a big sigh. "Yeah I like El. Yesterday she told me to go away."

Dustin frowned, "well, that sucks dude."

"But this morning, I found out she's a member of the AV club... ever heard of it?" Mike said a smile appearing on his own face.

"She's trying to get out from under the shadow of her twin sister." Dustin said nodding slowly. "Makes perfect sense now."

"You going to be ok with that?" Mike asked Dustin.

"Yeah, sometimes I think Jane needs to dial it back from eleven, You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean, I think El is more like us, not that sociable and a little nerdy."

"So, made to order for a certain Mike Wheeler then?"

A huge sigh from Mike this time, "yeah, I wish... I really really do."

XXXXX

After school all the AV club members were in the hamshack. "Where's Max?" Mike asked Lucas.

"I think she said something about being dragged kicking in screaming before she would enter this room."

El burst out laughing. The boys looked at her. They had never heard her laugh, or even speak for that matter.

"Shit... I forgot something in my locker." I'll be right back. Dustin hurried out of the room.

Dustin didn't forget anything, he knew Max would be waiting for a ride after she got her skateboard out of the locker. He hoped to catch her before she went outside.

"Max?" She turned to look at him, closing her locker door.

"What is it nerd?"

"As the official Bard of the Party, I have to ask you some questions"

"Will this be in nerdspeak, or will you be using English?"

"How's this for English: Do you like Lucas? Not just like, but _like_ like?" Max's face matched her hair.

Dustin snapped his fingers a few times, "what no snappy comeback? I think I have my answer. Next question. Just what the hell is up with Jane? Why won't she take no for answer?"

"Jane is lonely."

"Do you even _know_ about the guys you hang out with? We _all_ are. Mike especially. It's our lot in life. Lucas is quiet about it. Mike hides it. I make jokes. We knew this year wasn't going to be any different from last... until yesterday... things…. changed. " Dustin sighed and looked down.

"She doesn't have to force herself on Mike. That looks like it's backfiring."

"Are you saying you like Jane? Hmm, that makes for an interesting dynamic. I'm talking about potential relationships here."

"I know what dynamic means." Dustin said, thinking of Jane. She did call him cute. Of course, she could be joking trying to get on Mike's good side. It wasn't working.

"That still leaves Mike with…. wait a sec…. I _knew_ it...Mike doesn't like Jane. He likes El instead doesn't he?" Max said.

"Yeah, I think it's entirely one way though. Poor Mike. Guy can't catch a break."

XXXXX

Mike knew the first AV club meeting they had was going to be disorganized. It always was. Mike was doing the last bit of clean up when he saw a notebook left on the table.

He picked it up to see who it belonged to. He could tell right away it was El's. He fumbled a little bit at the realization and it dropped back down on the desk. An old piece of paper fell out.

He tried not to, but he couldn't help reading the words on it.

"He should know by now that I love him. I've been projecting my love at him with my entire soul...so I will wait a while. Longer if I need to."

This was written on an old piece of paper. Probably a while ago.

El loved someone else.

Mike sat down at the desk, put his face in his hands and cried.


	4. Counted Sorrows

Mike quit AV club. He'd lost his drive and interest to do it. He thought he might be able to be friends with Jane. Maybe. But nothing more. And definitely not today.

His heart belonged to El.

He knew she was lost to him. After reading that note anybody could tell she felt very strongly for someone and he would not get in the way of that. She deserved a chance to be happy.

He had to move on. So he started by quitting AV club. He would not hang out with the Party if Jane and El were going to be there. He wasn't going to be able to look at her. He couldn't take that right now.

Mike had never felt this bad. He was angry, he was sad. He felt helpless. And he could do nothing to stop any of it. He would wallow in self pity for a while. He would probably cry again. Not today though, he was cried out. His tear ducts felt crusty he had cried so hard.

He promised himself he would _not_ console himself by hanging out with Jane. Obviously she would just remind him of El, whether she meant to or not. It wouldn't be fair to her either.

XXXXX

He managed to avoid talking to the entire Party for the full week. For the weekend he would hang out in different places. Moving around if he thought they would end up there. He made sure to leave his supercomm at home.

It was Sunday. He was sitting in the back of the bus at the junkyard, when he heard some coming up the bus stairs. Shit, he had no escape route, he'd just bear it and leave if they gave him too much grief.

It was Max. "There you are. We've been looking all over the place for you."

"Not in the mood Max, you guys can leave or I will."

"It's just me. I won't tell anyone I found you."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't... well that's not true, I do, I mean you're not my type, but Lucas is worried about you, so that means I am too and we've been looking for you. What's going on Mike?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Really? Your eyes are puffy, you've been crying. A lot. I know because _I_ look like that when I've done the same thing."

"You cry a lot? Sorry Max I didn't know…. I've been really shitty towards you. It's not you, it's me." Mike started crying again, unable to help himself.

Max came over to the back of the bus and gave him a tight hug. "It _can't_ be that bad, Mike. _Nothing_ is that bad." Max looked down.

"Jane is worried about you," Mike cried harder still..

"Shit, do you like her after all the bullshit you told her?"

"No." Mike sobbed out.

"Ok that's why I thought, it's El isn't it?" She could feel Mike nodding on her shoulder, he was crying even harder than he had been a few seconds ago.

"Why don't you just tell her? It would save you a lot of grief. At least you would know one way or another if she likes you or not."

"She loves someone else," Mike managed to get out between sobs.

"How do you know?"

"I read an old note she had written, it was by accident." Mike couldn't talk anymore.

Max could feel that Lucas's best friend was hurting. Really badly, a tear rolled down her cheek. Dustin was right, Mike couldn't catch a break. He wasn't hiding it very well now though. She kept on hugging him until he was done.

After a long time, Mike took in several deep breaths. "Do you like Lucas?"

Max looked down, sighed, "yes."

"Then tell him, ask him out it's the eighties, after all, just don't leave him hanging. He really likes you. Maybe tell Jane to stop leading Dustin on. He doesn't deserve it. I'm sorry but I'm never going to be her boyfriend."

"You really look after your friends, what's it like to have a friend like that?" Max said.

"You have one, Max. Me. Let Lucas know, you won't be sorry."

"Shit. What did I ever do to get a bunch of nerdy friends like you guys. I have to go talk to Lucas. You coming along."

"No, I need… more time…"

"I'll say I checked here and you were nowhere to be found."

"Thanks Max, I owe you one."

"Lucas said Party members do anything for each other.

"They do."

"Then you don't owe me. I know you'd do the same for me. Careful Wheeler, I may call in that favour."

"Any time Max... no questions asked. Thanks... for being here."

XXXXX

Mike felt immensely better. Lucas was going to be so lucky to have Max. Her tough exterior belied who she really was as a person.

Mike should be so lucky. He sighed again…. can't go down that road again.

He still didn't think he could face the Party as a whole, but he was getting closer.

XXXXX

Max ran into Jane and El at the quarry.

"Did you find him?" El asked, concern in her voice.

Max hesitated, "No." El looked crestfallen.

"El, can you give Jane and I a few minutes?"

"Sure, I'll start head back towards town, I'll be at Benny's if you don't catch up with me before then." El said, she looked down and started walking.

"You found my boyfriend didn't you?" Jane said happily smiling.

"Yeah, about that. Quit acting like he is. You know he doesn't like you that way. He's told you to your face. And you still keep it at. Stop it. Now."

Jane's smile disappeared. She looked down, "I didn't mean to hurt him, I'm just flirting. I like him... but not like that."

"Are you shitting me?" Max was getting angry.

"You can't play with a guy's heart like that. It's not right. And with nerds... who've _never_ had a girlfriend? But these guys," she gestured to the world, but she meant the Party. "That's just cruel. I'm not going to stand for it. You want to continue being my friend. You'll cut that shit out."

"Sorry," Jane looked down.

"Ok, cards on the table. You like Mike, but just as a friend."

"Yes."

"Then you need to tell him that. What about Dustin? Quit leading him on, that shit has to stop too."

"I like Dustin," Jane said in a small voice.

"Like him, or _like_ like him. It's an important distinction."

"I know I've been flirting with him too, but I thought he would figure it out. I like like him."

"How could he know? You've been going on all over school about how Mike was your boyfriend. It's probably tearing Dustin apart, and you already know it's pissing Mike off. Dustin is a true friend though, he'd stick with Mike regardless."

"You want me to tell Dustin I like him?"

"Why not, it's the eighties, girls have a lot more options than we used to But only tell him if you really do."

"These guys are different than most guys aren't they?"

"You bet your ass they are. I'm just learning that now. I'm going to take my own advice and tell Lucas. I'm not leaving anything to chance. Not anymore."

"Does Mike like my sister?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I think El, really likes Mike"

"What?! How do you know?"

"El has this thing where she writes notes, like disjointed diary entries or something. She writes them everywhere. I read one by accident on Friday."

"Ok this is going to sound like an odd question, but what kind of paper does she use for these notes."

"She likes using really old paper that hasn't been written on, why would you ask that? How did you even know to ask that?"

"Shit. shit. shit"

"What's going on?" Jane looked confused.

"I won't ask you to reveal any of El's personal writing... but I assume the word 'love' showed up in it."

"Yes, and that she would wait," Jane sighed, "To feel that way about each other, and they don't even know it yet." Her eyes were brimming with tears. "I want someone to feel that way about me." A tear spilled out. "I feel bad now. Like really bad. If I had known. I would never have said the things I said. To either of them. We _have_ to get them in the same room so they can talk." Jane said.

"That's is going to be hard to do. I think you might be the only person who can do that."

"I will make it happen. I owe that to my sister... and to Mike. I hope they will forgive me."


	5. 8:32

Jane walked up to Dustin at the arcade and kissed his cheek.

"Not funny, Jane." Dustin said, distracted and losing game and another fifty cents on Dragon's Lair.

"I will pay for your next game," Jane said.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant." Jane said, turned his head and kissed him on the mouth. "I hope that's a start. I'm going to make it up to you."

Dustin was speechless. Ask anybody, that hardly ever happened. "I don't know what I did to deserve that, but I'm not going to question it all that much."

"My personality gets the better of me sometimes. I hurt one person people I like," she looked down, "one person I love, and one person I _really_ like. I think it's a new record for me."

"Ok, you kissed me... so I'm going say I'm the person you really like?" Dustin had a smidgen of hope in his voice, Jane nodded and he grinned continuing, "the person you love is your sister, and the person you like is Mike. It's hard not to like Mike. So I forgive you there."

Jane started to cry, "thank you. I can't believe Mike has such good friends. You guys are really special. I feel like shit... to borrow a word."

"So how are you going to make it up to him... and your sister?"

"With your help."

XXXXX

Mike got a weird call on Sunday night, Mr. Clarke asking him if could make some specific adjustments to the ham radio. He realized that Mike had quit, but could he do that one last thing for him. Mike didn't want to, but he owed Mr. Clarke at least that much so he said sure, he'd go in early on Monday morning and make the changes. Then he would be done with AV club.

He turned the corner towards the hamshack door when he saw Dustin and Jane waiting for him. Jane was holding his hand. Shit. She was still at it.

"Why are you both here?"

"I'm here because Mr. Clarke asked you to to pass on the AV club door key to me. He said you'd be here making one last adjustment, and then you were done. You should reconsider that Mike," Dustin said.

Dustin held his hand out for the key. Mike passed it to him not as reluctantly as he thought he might.

He entered the AV room, and heard the door lock behind him. Ok, that was weird, Mike thought.

El's head shot up from behind the desk. She looked sad, scared, worried , frustrated, and confused all at the same time.

"I thought you quit?" El said, that sad look on her face more prevalent now.

"Mr. Clarke asked me to make one final adjustment on the ham radio." Mike said dully. Not looking at her.

The confused look made its way to her face now. "He asked me to do the same thing, he said Dustin would help, but he hasn't shown up yet."

Now Mike was confused…," I just passed the key to him.

El said. " He said to make sure the SSB knob was off." El looked down, "I don't know the controls."

"It means, Single Side Band. On these Heathkits it's just labelled 'sideband' "

El looked relieved, "thanks Mike." He nodded, still not able to look at her. "Are you Ok? My sister didn't get to you did she? I apologize for her, she doesn't know when to stop flirting. She goes way overboard…. she compensating."

"When I got here, she was holding Dustin's hand, so she's still flirting, she's going to hurt him. That's not right. He doesn't deserve that. I was ignoring her, I didn't really care what she's been saying... but Dustin likes her."

There was an insistent pounding on the door. "Talk about the note. Both of you." It was Dustin yelling through the door.

Mike froze, suddenly in a cold sweat. Now he knew what that phrase meant.

"Oh," El said looking down, "you read it. I could tell it had be moved to a different section of my notebook." El got very quiet.

"Yeah, sorry, I know it was private, I read it totally by accident. I guess I put it in the wrong spot in your notebook. Really really sorry, I could see the note was personal, didn't mean to intrude on your private life...," Mike was embarrassed to the point of complete silence.

"Mike." He couldn't look at El, he was on the verge of losing it completely. Again.

"Mike, it was about you."

"What? It was written on old paper El, for someone else. it's ok... I'll get ov-" Mike had to stop talking. He needed to get out of that room. He couldn't breathe. He felt sick to his stomach.

"I write all my personal things on old paper." El said quietly, "not meant for anyone else to read. Keeps it special for me. You read it, so you should know, it's only fair you know. It was about you."

"But you wrote…"

"Love. I know, I meant everything in that note. Everything."

"The note said you would wait... longer if you needed to."

"I would wait forever, Mike."

"When I first saw you, that was when I knew. I wanted to tell you later that day, I didn't care if you felt the same way. I just had to tell you. You told me to go away," Mike looked down, " and later, that you didn't want me to talk to you. That was a bad day."

El was slow to respond. She ran her hand over her short hair. "I can't compete with my sister, no matter what I do. I knew if I let Jane have her way I could hope... I'm ashamed to say it now, but I could hope it wouldn't work out between you two. But... it was easier to let you go, even if I had to be a little bit cruel to do it. I don't think I can ever make that up to you. But I will spend the rest of my life trying... if you let me...," El looked down.

"I just want to be with you El. That's all I need…," Mike said quietly. "I don't know how to make Jane understand."

"I know she doesn't feel about you the same way I do."

El came around from behind the ham radio desk and put her hands on the back of his neck, pulled him towards her and kissed him softly.

"When you first smiled at me. That's when I knew I loved you. That exact instant." Mike said staring into her eyes.

"I love you, Mike. At first I was sure you felt the same from the way you looked at me that first day. Then I wasn't t sure... but I had to write about it anyway. I've been crying myself to sleep every night since the first day of school."

Suddenly the AV room door opened, Jane looked like she was pushed in. The door closed behind her and Mike could hear the click of the lock. Max shouted from outside, "fix it!"

Mike stood close to El, their hands found each other, their fingers automatically interlaced.

Jane looked down. Then shyly up at Mike she saw their hands. "I never had a chance with you did I. Even if I'd wanted to..." It was more of a statement than a question. She gave a big sigh.

"Sorry Jane, when I first saw El. That was it, I was hers. All I had to do was to let her know."

"I owe you an apology, Mike."

"No, you weren't hurting my feelings," he looked at her, "you owe your sister."

Jane nodded and walked over to El. Mike let go of her hand and stepped aside. Jane gave El a tight hug. Nothing was spoken. Mike figured this is what twins did. They didn't need to speak.

"How can I make it up to you Mike?"

"You don't need to, you need to make it up to Dustin. If you were flirting with him by holding hands...," Mike nodded towards the door.

"I'm not flirting with Dustin... well I was...but Dustin and I are... together now," Jane said, brightening up.

"Then you be good to him. He's my best friend and deserves it." Jane nodded.

"And you don't have to worry about El," Mike moved closer to El, their hands fitting together again. "We will be together forever."

Jane said in a small voice, not the least bit confident, "Do you forgive me?"

"What you did last week was hurtful." Jane looked down, nodding, "but you made it right. So, yes, I forgive you."

Mike let go of El's hand and gave Jane a hug. El thought her heart would burst with joy. Her sister was forgiven... by El's boyfriend? Is that what Mike was to her now?

"I'll give you a few minutes" Jane said, then to the door, "let me out."

"Is it fixed?" Max yelled back.

Jane looked and Mike and El who nodded. She gave them a warm smile, that was the smile he was already used to seeing on El, Jane yelled back, "yes."

The door unlocked and Jane left and closed the door behind her.

" _That_ is the smile Jane needs to use more often," Mike said.

"She smiles like that when she's happy." El gave Mike a big sigh. "Let's go, I want to formally introduce my boyfriend to your friends."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried for a clean finish, but I don't think I'm finished with this AU I like the idea too much.. I "literally" have nothing left for this story. But I don't want to abandon it.
> 
> There is a sequel. Will be posted after a few other stories. Thanks for reading. :)


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